Slideshow: Hydrogen-Powered Hyundai to Hit Showrooms in February

Hyundai Motor Co. has launched production of a hydrogen fuel cell-powered crossover vehicle, with the intent of building and leasing 1,000 of them by the end of 2015.

Known as the Tucson Fuel Cell vehicle, it will offer zero-emission performance and 300 miles of range between refuels. Production will take place on the same assembly line where the conventionally powered Hyundai Tucson is produced. “It’s not a test and it’s not a science project,” Hyundai spokesman Jim Trainor told Design News. “This is reality.”

The fuel cell vehicle, essentially identical to the Hyundai ix35 that debuted in Europe earlier this year, will hit showrooms in February and will lease for $499 a month. It will be powered by a proton exchange membrane, a 100kW induction motor, and a lithium-polymer battery rated at 0.95kWh.

Click on the Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell vehicle below to start the slideshow.

The Tucson Fuel Cell vehicle will hit California showrooms beginning in February. The vehicle will be leased in the Los Angeles/Orange County area for $499 a month for 36 months and $2,999 down. (Source: Hyundai Motor Co.)

In a press release, Hyundai explained that it considers a fuel cell vehicle a more viable option than a battery-electric vehicle. “But for most consumers, range anxiety and lengthy recharging times remain formidable obstacles to using (BEVs) in their daily lives,” the release stated. “In addition, affordable electric vehicle technology is best suited to smaller urban vehicles, not larger family and utility vehicles that many families require to meet all of their needs. Because of the inherent weight and cost of batteries, and the chemistry and physics that drive slow recharge times, today’s electric vehicles have practical limits for many consumers.”

Hyundai said the Tucson Fuel Cell will be capable of refueling in under 10 minutes and will offer instantaneous electric motor torque of 221 lb-ft. The company added that it logged 10 million test miles on its fuel cells since 2000.

Leases of the Tucson Fuel Cell will be limited to California, in part because the Los Angeles area has nine hydrogen refueling stations. Hydrogen refueling stations are extremely scarce around the rest of the country. To make it easier for the car’s lessees, Hyundai said it would provide unlimited free refuels for two years.

Major automakers have been testing fuel cell technology since 1966, when General Motors (GM) built the Electrovan. Since that time, automakers including GM, Honda, Toyota, Daimler, and Hyundai have built hydrogen-powered vehicles. GM has publicized the HydroGen1 (2001), AUTOnomy (2002), Hy-Wire (2003), Chevy Sequel (2005), and the Chevy Equinox concept vehicle (2007). Honda marketed the FCX fuel cell vehicle in 2002, and then rolled out the FCX Clarity, a low-volume production fuel cell car, in 2008 and 2011. Toyota plans to sell a hydrogen-powered car in 2015.

Up to now, hydrogen fuel cell cars have been held back by lack of infrastructure and high cost. By building the new car on the same production line as its conventionally powered counterpart, Hyundai hopes to make a small dent in the cost part of the equation. “Would we like to bring costs down? Yes, we would,” Trainor said, in response to a Design News question. “Building it on an assembly line is one way to help keep those costs down.”

High pressure gas explosions are common and deadly. There are way more cars than places that use hydrogen gas, and way more than that who fill hydrogen tanks. I listed three deadly explosions that happened with experts working with hydrogen. Very small amounts caused deaths and massive damage. The scientist working on cold fusions was killed by a hydrogen explosion, the reactor in Fukushima blow up because of hydrogen.

The pressure in the industrial tanks is low about 2k or so, versus 10,000 PSI in proposed vehicle tanks. These tanks will create much more extreme detonation because of the pressure. They are lightweight, easily hidden and transported, what a wonderful DIY terror bomb, and you think the terrorists haven't already figured that out?

You put 100's of millions of these things in the world and you will see every possible failure. Each one capable of killing 100's per thousands of people.

Then there is the problem with refilling in open air. Each time you refill, is it inevitable that some very small amount of air gets in. Those pumps will be used till they fail. Not by everyone, only those who care only about cost and have insurance if kill your family using those hoses too long. They will claim you caused it.

"there is indeed a whole class of people who should never get near a hydrogen powered vehicle simply because they are "klutzes", unable to do anything mechanical. "

How is that statement not agreeing that hydrogen high pressure tanks are too dangerous for consumer vehicles?

Certainly it would be a requirement to avoid mixing oxidizers such as air, with pressurized hydrogen, That is a given, and not tht hard to do for the technically competent. All kinds of high pressure gasses are handledin a lot of places with no disasters.

Bursting tanks would indeed be a hazard, but the propper care and handling of high pressure tanks is not some mystery, it is done every day. So the two fears embraced by Trenth are fairly baseless. Of course, there is indeed a whole class of people who should never get near a hydrogen powered vehicle simply because they are "klutzes", unable to do anything mechanical.

Hydrogen is costly, is an indirect greenhouse gas itself, is made from methane gas usually, is inefficient from electrolysis, and is extremely dangerous.

The math for a hydrogen air explosion in the 11 lb tanks Toyota. I would guess this car has a similar tank. Assume that about half the hydrogen is replaced with air, that is a nice explosive mixture at 10,000 psi! That's an energy of around 300 MJ! that's the equivalent of about 300 sticks of dynamite! nearly 80 lbs of TNT. tanks over 11,000 MJ are being planned for trucks.

"Daimler also makes a fuel cell city bus, the Mercedes-Benz Citaro. It has a hybrid system with fuel cell, electric motor and lithium-ion batteries. It stores 77 pounds of hydrogen in seven cylinders on the roof, which give it a range of 125 miles. " http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/will-germany-become-first-nation-with-hydrogen-economy/

http://www.hysafe.org/science/eAcademy/docs/1stesshs/presentations/Ireland_hydrogen_safety.pdf check out China Light and Power Cast Peak Generating Station (August 28, 1992) where air got mixed with hydrogen The blast was equivalent to 275KG of TNT, and caused extensive damage at 100 meters!

Even without air added to the tank, just defeating the pressure release valves creates a deadly bomb! http://www.see.ed.ac.uk/feh5/pdfs/FEH_pdf_pp149.pdf

I'm pretty sure 10k psi leaks would cut through flesh like butter too. Wait till those hydrogen filling stations spring a leak on someone. It will fly around like a fire hose. Even shop air at 80psi has killed people by injecting gas into the blood stream.

have you done the math for a hydrogen air explosion in the 11 lb tanks Toyota is talking about? Assume that about half the hydrogen is replaced with air, that is a nice explosive mixture at 10,000 psi! That's an energy of around 300 MJ! that's the equivalent of about 300 sticks of dynamite! nearly 80 lbs of TNT. tanks over 11,000 MJ are being planned for trucks.

"Daimler also makes a fuel cell city bus, the Mercedes-Benz Citaro. It has a hybrid system with fuel cell, electric motor and lithium-ion batteries. It stores 77 pounds of hydrogen in seven cylinders on the roof, which give it a range of 125 miles. " http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/will-germany-become-first-nation-with-hydrogen-economy/

http://www.hysafe.org/science/eAcademy/docs/1stesshs/presentations/Ireland_hydrogen_safety.pdf check out China Light and Power Cast Peak Generating Station (August 28, 1992) where air got mixed with hydrogen The blast was equivalent to 275KG of TNT, and caused extensive damage at 100 meters!

Even without air added to the tank, just defeating the pressure release valves creates a deadly bomb! http://www.see.ed.ac.uk/feh5/pdfs/FEH_pdf_pp149.pdf

I'm pretty sure 10k psi leaks would cut through flesh like butter too. Wait till those hydrogen filling stations spring a leak on someone. It will fly around like a fire hose. Even shop air at 80psi has killed people by injecting gas into the blood stream.

I've been thinking about this a long time.... We don't want this to rust away...But seriously, the byproducts of metals and water is metal oxide (rust) and HYDROGEN.

A common element, Aluminum, forms aluminum oxide readily with a gallium catlyst. I have read many articles on people running this experiment.

It would be very simple to drive into a service station, remove the tray of aluminum oxide to send to the recylcers and then insert a tray of bare aluminum wire/pellets/etc. Then all that would be left to do is to fill your tank with water. :)

While hydrogen is certainly a low emissions fuel, and capable of zero carbon emissions, it is a logisticly challenging choice. It can be delivered as either a cryogenic liquid, which requires special hyandling and constant refrigeration, unless a signifigant boil-off loss penalty is acceptable, or a high pressure gas with a fairly small molecular size, which is also a challenge to handle and deliver. High pressure plumbing is a lot of work.

Then there is that real concern about the large amount of energy needed to deliver usable hydrogen in any form. Free hydrogen is only found mixed with natruyral gas right from the wellhead. Separating it takes some effort, and is not a trivial task. Most hydrogen is obtained by separation from other elements, which requires a fair amount of energy. If the vehicle could separate the hydrogen from something else onboard the vehicl it would have the potential to be quite useful. That has been done a few years back, and I believe that the conclusion at that time was that it simply was not worth the effort.

Of course it is possible that Hyundai has found a solution to the challenge, but it remains to be seen. If they have, it could be a real game changer.

A few weeks ago, Ford Motor Co. quietly announced that it was rolling out a new wrinkle to the powerful safety feature called stability control, adding even more lifesaving potential to a technology that has already been very successful.

A well-known automotive consultant who did an extensive teardown of BMW’s i3 all-electric car said its design is groundbreaking in multiple ways. “We’ve torn down about 450 cars, and we’ve never analyzed anything like this before.”

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